Yes, the state budget affects RHSFS.

Many friends of Riverbend Head Start & Family Services have been wondering if our programs are affected by the proposed state budget. Because our Head Start program is federally funded, it is not affected by the state budget, but Head Start is only one of our three programs. The other two, Family Foundations and Transitions Counseling both face new challenges in regard to the budget.

We just gave fifteen Family Foundations case managers thirty-days notice that their program might not continue and the 200 high risk infants and toddlers they work with may lose our early intervention services. Family Foundations is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education's Early Childhood Education Block Grant with a goal to reduce factors such as abuse and neglect that cause academic failure. This program is voluntary. Parents choose to participate because they want to improve their families' lives.

We also just told our mental health therapists that the Department of Children and Family services cancelled our counseling contract for over fifty low-income children and adults. These are children and their foster parents, many of whom have been physically or sexually abused.

For more information about the state budget, visit www.il.gov.

Riverbend Head Start & Family Services is only one of countless agencies and programs that will be affected by the budget cuts. If you disagree with balancing the budget on the backs of underserved children and adults, please contact your legislators. Find out who they are at http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx?NavLink=1.